Dead Bodies
“Gosh,” said Amy, “That must have seemed exciting!”
Santiago continued:
“Yes. He helped me get a scholarship, and I felt so bad for my mother because I wouldn’t be there to help her any more. She didn’t know my plan, to make enough money for them to move, but in my head, I had it all figured out.
“Then I got here. I was okay in university, but it was so much harder. I thought I was smart where I lived, but soon learned I wasn’t that smart.
“I mean, I wasn’t the worst, but it was so hard. I also remember that first time they showed us a dead body. One of those cadavers, and they made us cut into it. I was so scared. I didn’t want to hurt it. I know that sounds weird. It was a dead person, but I hated it.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be telling you all of this, you must be celebrating something if you are going to The Marbled Fin,” ended Santiago.
By this time Ben had shifted from looking out the window to paying attention to Santiago’s story.
“No, this is a great story. We’re just going out to dinner. Usually people talk to me about boring stuff, but your story is fascinating. School sounded like a challenge?” Ben said with a sense of “tell me more.”
Amy realized Ben was now totally wrapped up in the conversation, and they both looked towards the front seat in anticipation of what Santiago was going to say next.
“Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, dead bodies,” started Santiago.
Santiago continued with his story while Ben and Amy listened intently from the back seat.
“The thing was, they only showed us dead bodies the one time. I guess once you get to medical school you have to see them and work on them all of the time. The older students would tell us they made us cut them at the beginning just to scare us, to see if we really wanted to be a doctor. From that moment, though, I started to think that I wouldn’t want to be a doctor.
“I didn’t want to disappoint my uncle, though. I studied as hard as I could, but the teaching was so much different from my school, and there were so many people in a room. The professor would be up front, writing on this giant board, and I tried to keep up with him. Most of the other kids had computers, but I couldn’t afford one, and I didn’t want to tell my uncle I needed one because he had already done so much. He probably would have thought me dumb because I remember him telling us stories how he had notebooks and notebooks of lessons when he was in university.
“Even though, I did okay, at least for a normal student, but not for the people who really wanted to be doctors. I would try to study with them, and it never really worked out. For some reason, though, they would talk to me.
“I remember Bill in my class. He was so smart, from Los Angeles. He didn’t want to be a doctor at all, but his parents were making him go to school. He wanted to be an actor. I guess that makes sense since he was from Los Angeles, but I wondered why he didn’t just tell his parents. Of course I should talk; I didn’t want to tell my uncle, either.
“They would all tell me their stories, how they ended up in Chicago, what their parents did, if they had a dog. I didn’t get why they would talk to me, but I liked to listen, and would ask a question to keep them going because their stories were so much more interesting to me than learning math and chemistry.
“I would get back to my dorm room at night, and instead of studying I would write their stories in my notebook. I would get to tests and be tired, but somehow I still managed B’s and a few A’s.
“At first my uncle wasn’t that worried with my grades. He always encouraged me, and told me that he knew I could do it. He said that I was having trouble because it was just an adjustment, but I wouldn’t tell him that I didn’t like it, and that I liked listening to people and writing their stories.
“After the second semester I was still doing okay, but I could tell my uncle thought I should be doing better. He urged me to take some classes in the summer, to “catch up” as he would say, but I really just wanted to go home. I didn’t see my parents all year. He said he would pay for a quick trip home and for my summer classes, so I told him I would do it,” finished Santiago.